It's now two straight NBA championships for the Golden State Warriors, and two consecutive NBA Finals MVP awards for the forward who played a huge role in getting them to those titles.

While Curry was the star of the night, Kevin Durant also had a standout performance, picking up the first playoff triple double of his career.

That almost wound up costing the Warriors dearly, as fourth-quarter collapses in both Games 4 and 5 of the Western Conference finals allowed Houston take a 3-2 lead in the series, and move Golden State to within a game of elimination.

Durant, who had a playoff career-best 43 points in game three, became only the sixth back-to-back finals MVP.

The Warriors won only 58 games during the regular season, by far their fewest in this four-year run of excellence, and that included going 7-10 in their final 17 games of the schedule.

The East might be a wild race, with Toronto, Philadelphia and Boston probably all likely to enter the year thinking they have NBA Finals potential - as will any team that has James on its roster next fall.

James didn't get the only reward he still seeks from the game of basketball.

"I came back because I felt like I had some unfinished business", James added.

Now, with the Golden State Warriors leading the series 3-0, I think it's time I wrote this article.

It was Durant's 28th consecutive playoff game with 20 or more points.

"When you play one of the best it brings the best out of you as well", Durant said of playing against James. "I had emotions that you just don't get an opportunity like this on the road against Golden State to be able to get a Game 1". James averaged 34 points in his 13th postseason, his second-highest total. "We want to keep this thing going as long as we can".

The three-time champion revealed he had played the last three matches with a broken right hand, sustained after he scored his best play-off points haul of 51 in the opener. In fact, scores were tied and Golden State won in overtime.

In James' postgame press conference he commented on the hand injury. Like most Gregg Popovich teams, that was one very well coached, and there didn't seem to be a lot of mistakes made throughout the series.

The sheer ease of their disposal of the LeBron James-led ClevelandCavaliers in the championship series sent a loud and clear message to the league that they are not about to vacate their perch any time soon.

Still, the air of inevitability that came with this championship made for a different feeling than, say, how the Washington Capitals celebrated winning the Stanley Cup the previous night.

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